Howell shoots 59 as England top leaderboard

Four days after beating Tiger Woods in Shanghai David Howell did something else on Thursday he has never done before - sign for a round of 59.

Not that the 30-year-old achieved the feat on his own, though. Howell had Luke Donald as his partner and the score came in the opening fourballs of golf's World Cup at Vilamoura in Portugal.

Not surprisingly, it gave holders England the first round lead - but only by a stroke from India and Australia.

Donald won the title with Paul Casey a year ago and, as the leading Englishman in the world rankings two months ago, thought long and hard about whether it was right to name Casey as his partner again.

In the end he went with Howell because he was next on the rankings and he certainly has no cause for regrets after this display. They are each on course to become almost £400,000 richer on Sunday.

The Swindon golfer, riding the crest of a wave thanks to his stunning victory over Woods in the HSBC Champions tournament on Sunday, picked up exactly where he left off in China.

After a birdie on the second he smashed a five-wood 246 yards to five feet at the next and made the eagle putt.

When two birdies quickly followed - and Donald had one in between - Howell said: "I had a general feeling of things can't go any better for me at the moment."

He could not maintain the same pace, but that was when Donald, 15th in the world compared to Howell's 13th, stepped in.

A hat-trick of birdies took them to the turn in 29 and by the time they reached the final tee a par was all that was needed to break 60.